Big scoring disparity — but that’s forgivable when the miles disparity is so minute.

When we’re talking men’s basketball rivalries, San Diego State vs. the University of San Diego isn’t even a whisper compared to the roar of Duke-North Carolina or Kentucky-Louisville. But for this city, those programs and their fans, it’s still a game firmly entrenched in the plus column.

As expected, the 18th-ranked Aztecs dominated USD Saturday night 72-56. They bullied the Toreros in the paint, used them as step-ladders on rebounds, and often ran an offensive system called “Blow by your man and dunk it.” But the reason USD left the court was because the final buzzer sounded — not because they were run off of it.

For the first 10 minutes, the basketball showed no bias in who it would find the net for. In fact, at the 10:16 mark, the Toreros led 18-16 — and not because 28-foot Hail Marys were splashing through, but because of second-chance points, a patient offense and an accommodating pace.

But they may have also been abetted by a force that can’t be broken down on tape.

Rivalry games tend to feed emotions a seven-course meal. Outmatched athletically in each of the previous three meetings, the Toreros led SDSU by seven late in the first half last year, spurted out to a 14-2 run the year before, and took the game to overtime the year before that.

The Aztecs still managed wins in all three games, but while the results may vary from season to season, SDSU coach Steve Fisher knows that the intensity likely won’t.

“I told our players that you have to come out with the energy, emotion and the fight that you know they are going to have. It’s always there,” said Fisher, whose team beat the Toreros for the seventh straight time, the longest winning streak in the rivalry’s 44-game history. “I think at times when you don’t win the year before, you have a little extra edge about you as you prepare to play…they don’t like to hear people say that you haven’t won in such and such time.”

The Aztecs now lead the series 27-17 and have clearly emerged as the city’s — if not the state’s — preeminent basketball program. They have reached the NCAA Tournament in each of the past two seasons, climbed to as high as No. 4 in the AP poll in 2011, and have 28 straight wins against teams from California.

The Toreros, meanwhile, have descended at terminal velocity from their tournament-appearance year in 2008 — when they shocked UConn in the first round — winning no more than half their conference games in the past three years. And yet, whenever they share the court with SDSU, they seem to undergo an identity makeover and keep the Aztecs anxious.

“We knew we were going to get their best game,” said SDSU guard Chase Tapley. “The last three years, they’ve been a tough game. It’s always a tough competition, USD, we just love this rivalry and love the competition.”

Two years ago, despite trailing late in the first half, San Diego State still beat the Toreros by 28 points. And given how the lead was as high as 22 midway through the second half Saturday, the potential for a tip-to-buzzer thrashing clearly exists.

But there is also potential for surprise, or if you’re an ardent Aztec fan — a good scare.

Toward the game’s end, the SDSU student section chanted Little Sisters!” toward USD players as a means of declaring the school’s dominance. And after the game, a student held up a sign that read “We Run Cali!”

Maybe so. But while the Aztecs run the state, you can never be surprised if USD gives them a run.